INCLUSION DAILY
EXPRESS

Your quick, once-a-day look at disability rights,
self-determination and the movement toward full community inclusion around
the world.

Monday, October 13, 2003Year IV, Edition 158

This front page features 8 news and information items,
each preceded by a number (#) symbol.Click on the"Below the Fold"
link at the bottom of this page for the rest of today's news.

QUOTES OF THE DAY:"We want to draw attention to the fact that
there is a woman in that building who is living on her own. She is not on a
respirator or any life support system. She is just being given food and water.
And they're going to starve her to death."--Randall Terry, founder of
right-to-life group Operation Rescue, who is leading a vigil protesting the
Wednesday afternoon scheduled removal of Terri Schiavo's feeding tube (First
story)

"It kind of defeats the whole purpose of integrating into the
community if they're clustered."--Commissioner Victoria Reinhardt, of
Ramsey County, Minnesota, which is encouraging providers of community
residential services for people with developmental disabilities to stop placing
new group homes and foster homes close together (Third story)

TAMPA, FLORIDA--Supporters of Terri Schiavo's right to continue
living began an around-the clock vigil Monday in front of the hospice where she
has lived for the last several years. According to media reports, the vigil has
been organized primarily by the right-to-life group Operation Rescue.

Unless there is a last-minute intervention by the 2nd District Court of
Appeal or Governor Jeb Bush, the feeding tube that provides Terri with food and
water will be removed Wednesday afternoon at 2:00 p.m. She is expected to die
within 10 to 14 days after that.

An attorney for Terri's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, filed an
emergency motion Monday with the appeals court, arguing that Terri deserves
therapy to help her to swallow once the feeding tube is removed. The court has
refused to overturn past rulings by Circuit Judge George Greer, who originally
approved the removal of Terri's feeding tube according to the wishes of her
husband and guardian, Michael Schiavo.

Also on Monday, Bob Schindler called on the governor to intervene again
on Terri's behalf by ordering the Florida Department of Children and Families
to investigate claims that Mr. Schiavo mistreated Terri and has withheld
rehabilitative therapies from her, in violation of her rights to treatment.

A spokesman for the governor explained that Bush does not have the
authority to overrule the courts. During the last few weeks, Bush wrote a
letter to Greer supporting the Schindlers' position in the circuit court, and
had his office file an amicus ("friend-of-the-court") brief to support their
lawsuit in federal court. Neither of his gestures had any impact on the
courts.

Terri collapsed from a heart attack and was without oxygen for several
minutes in February 1990 when she was 26 years old. Since then she has been in
what some doctors describe as a "persistent vegetative state" from which they
believe she cannot recover. Since 1998, Michael Schiavo has said that Terri
told him prior to her collapse that she would not want to live "by artificial
means".

Terri's parents have fought in the courts to keep their daughter alive,
and have produced documents from medical professionals that argue that Terri is
alert, responsive and could benefit from rehabilitative therapies, including
spoon-feeding. The Schindlers claim that Michael wants Terri to die, in part,
so he will be able to take advantage of what is left of a $700,000 insurance
settlement and so he can marry another woman.

Disability rights advocates have been closely watching Terri's case for
years. Many view her situation as one that people with certain disabilities are
at risk at being in at any time. Allowing Terri to starve to death would send
to the public the message that people in her situation are better off not being
alive.

TORONTO, ONTARIO--In her Saturday
column, Toronto Star's Helen Henderson looked at "Circles of Support" and how
to create them.

"The aim," Henderson explained, "is to help individuals and families
have more control over their lives by learning how to define and articulate
their needs, make informed decisions, find the right support workers and
increase links to communities."

County Wants Group Homes To Be Less
ClusteredBy Dave Reynolds, Inclusion Daily ExpressOctober 13,
2003

MAPLEWOOD, MINNESOTA--Cities in Ramsey County will soon be
encouraging residential service providers to put more distance between new
sites and current ones for people with developmental disabilities.

County commissioners want group home and adult foster care providers to
avoid establishing any new sites within 1,700 feet -- about 1/3 mile -- from
existing sites.

Officials admit that they have no legal grounds to enforce any
restrictions on housing. Federal law does not allow local governments to tell
people with disabilities where they can or cannot live.

Still, many hope that service providers will voluntarily follow the
guidelines to keep from creating "clusters" of such homes. Maplewood, with a
population of just under 35,000 has 78 group homes. One neighborhood has three
group homes on a single block.

"It kind of defeats the whole purpose of integrating into the community
if they're clustered," said Ramsey County Commissioner Victoria Reinhardt.

HAMPTON ROADS,
VIRGINIA--Virginians with mental illnesses are often stranded for weeks behind
bars waiting to be evaluated for competency before standing trial, according to
a story in Sunday's Hampton Roads Daily Press.

A recent report to the Joint Commission on Health Care found that
inmates with mental illnesses wait in local jails an average of 26 days for a
mental health evaluation, and that the average wait to be restored to
competency to stand trial is 50 days.

While advocates are encouraging the state to move toward more
community-based supports, many do not understand why Governor Warner's
administration is looking at downsizing Eastern State Hospital by 43 beds.

Supporters explain that the state isn't simply cutting beds, it's
diverting people with mental illness away from the state hospital and into less
restrictive community settings.

In Northern Virginia, advocates are developing a pilot program that
would enlist volunteers to work as mentors to help people with mental illness
who are charged with crimes and awaiting trial.

MUMBAI, INDIA--The following three paragraphs are excerpts from a
brief item in Monday's Express India:

All through the performance, they counted their steps to time their
actions. Their only other assets, a powerful memory and loads of enthusiasm.

Students of the National Institute for the Hearing Handicapped and the
Andhra Mahila Sabha School for the Deaf, both based in Hyderabad, wowed the
audience when they enacted a mute musical rendition of Shakespeares A
Midsummer Nights Dream.

Held at the auditorium of the Hotel Rang Sharda, Bandra, the event was
organised by the Ali Yavar Jung National Institute for the Hearing Handicapped,
Mumbai, in commemoration of the World Day of the Deaf, 2003.

CASHTON, WISCONSIN--Since
he injured his spinal cord six years ago, Mike Mitby gave up on the idea that
he would ever ride a motorcycle again.

His boyhood friend Jeff Larson thought differently.

Larson, vice president of All American Cycle Works of Arizona, set out
to find the perfect set of wheels for his buddy. Finally he found it -- a 1962
Harley-Davidson trike, a discontinued three-wheel model once used by police and
now prized by collectors.

Larson custom-fitted the trike with hand-operated controls and an
electric starter, and installed a rebuilt engine. He also lowered it so Mitby
can easily get on and off, and built a flatbed behind the driver's seat so his
friend can take his wheelchair or his two children along for a ride.

"I enjoy it a lot already," Mitby told the Associated Press. "It's a lot
of fun, and I feel really safe on it."